Include 2017: Tackling Big Challenges through Design

(25 May 2017, Hong Kong) Organised by the Hong Kong Design Centre, with Create Hong Kong as the major sponsor, Knowledge of Design Week 2017 (KODW 2017) will be held from 12 June to 16 June, 2017 offering 3 forums with case studies, 6 workshops, and 2 In Conversation with Design Masters Series sessions.

Themed “Include 2017: Tackling Big Challenges through Design”, this year KODW will explore how we deal with society’s toughest issues. Through a future-facing approach, the audience will learn how to apply design thinking to tackle everyday challenges, opening up new business opportunity and experience through Inclusive Design. Against the backdrop of Inclusive Design, the Forum addresses topics around people-centred creative thinking, integrated with the latest technology trends, such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality. The exchange will accelerate the adoption of design thinking approaches with both social value and business value, making impact on the widest group of audience and promoting an inclusive society.

Prof. Eric Yim, Chairman of Hong Kong Design Centre said, “KODW provides a valuable platform to pair up practitioners, business leaders and design end-users. It also offers SMEs, scholars, design educators and technologists opportunities to collaborate. This year, with “Inclusive Design” at the core focus, KODW will explore the role of people-centred design when it comes to tackling complex, imperative global issues. We believe such knowledge sharing should be beneficial and inspirational to all of us.”

3 Themed Forums

Themed as “Living”, “Connecting” and “Moving” respectively, around 20 speakers from around the world are invited to share ideas on how inclusive design can effectively create both social impact and business value. The “Living” forum explores two global issues -- ageing and health care. In this forum, speaker Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg, Senior Political Advisor of The Conservative Party of Norway will talk about “More Years More Opportunities”, unearthing the opportunities brought by active ageing; while Stacey Chang, Executive Director of Design Institute for Health, University of Texas at Austin will talk about “Health through Community - A Design Collaboration”, explaining how to apply people-centred design to promote health and community well-being. This “Living” Forum also includes four other case studies.

The “Connecting” Forum explores the application and merits of digital technology. Piotr Łój, Owner of Virtual Dream Foundation, will share his view on the potential and risks of new, emerging technology in his talk “Human 2.0 – Virtual Reality Potential and Risks in Social Inclusion”. Dan Toon, Functional Design Lead, Design Group of McLaren Applied Technologies, will demonstrate how the health and welfare of people can benefit from data-driven design. Other case studies will also be shared in this forum.

The “Moving” Forum focuses on how smart mobility is enabled by new, emerging technology. Presenting on “Designing Mobility Ecosystems”, Jonah Houston, Portfolio Lead of Mobility, IDEO will analyse the new social mobility trend amidst the digital technology era. Furthermore, Takeshi Go, Project Chief Designer of Toyota Compact Car Company, Toyota Motor Corporation, will talk about the new UD Toyota Taxi.

Six Workshops

With experiential activities, case study sharing and research, these six workshops aim at facilitating a detailed understanding of global trends, and stimulating innovative ideas. Hosts like Per Kristiansen, Partner of Trivium, will demonstrate how LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method can be applied to corporate training and leadership training. Co-hosted by Sean Donahue from the US and Chris McGinley, Research Leader of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, “Design Safari: A Practical Workshop in Design Thinking and Design Doing!” will include a field trip to a senior citizen centre and address how to use people-centred creative process to address people with diverse needs . In addition, Wesley Grubbs, Founder of Pitch Interactive, Inc. will host another workshop known as “Seeing the World with Data Visualisation Glasses”, during which he will deconstruct the process of data visualisation.

In Conversation with Design Masters Series

In this series, two renowned designers from Hong Kong, with Ed Ng, Principal & Co-Founder of AB Concept and Gary Chang, Founder & Managing Director of EDGE Design Institute Ltd, are invited to speak. The audience will get to understand the relationship between design and space more, and appreciate the immense possibilities between design and living.